LG LDA511 HDMI DVD player - Page 7

MaliciousBraham-

I came home today and searched for good detailed scene and found it WOTW when the little girl is cowering in the back of the van while escaping from the first tripod rising up. I just read your post approx. 3 hours after I took some pics (only two).

I could not replicate what you saw while following your procedure. All images looked BASICALLY the same with 480p being cleaner, but nowhere near the anomolies you saw.

Source- War of the Worlds FS Edition
Connection- HDMI
480i
480p
Camera- Nikon Cool Pix 5200 ($350 new), set to ISO mode 400, hand held, no flash, dark room.
Shots taken from six feet away, cropped and resized for posting. Unsharp mask applied to both images at 2 pixels, 75% while at 3600px horizontal. I applied this filter as I felt it more accurately represented what my naked eye was viewing, again to BOTH images.
Color in images is not accurate, looking at detail only.

Because I could not replicate what MaliciousBraham was viewing, I snapped a photo while playing in the 1/16 slo mode.This will be the second image per below.

Paused
Playing

IMHO- It all depends on the brand/model of the display device.

Good luck with your replacement DVD player MaliciousBraham!

FWIW- I don't have any agenda, I still have a window to return 511. Wouldn't mind auditioning the Sammy 845 which was my original intention.

actually thats great that you didnt see the same thing.

I can hopefully swap out (return and get another) my 511 and see if the same problem persists.

That was my goal in posting what I did. Not to make a judgement against the player, but to find out for sure if what I saw was accurate. Hopefully this problem is isolated and I wont see it in the next one.

But maybe i should clarify my procedure...
If you just play the dvd, then pause, the image on my player is blurred. If I go into 1/16th (i specifically tried reverse 1/16th) then hit pause again, the image is a lot more detailed. I notice one of your pics shows the 1/16th symbol, so I know for sure it wasnt taken in the same mode mine was.

Bud-man,

My understanding is the recall is for a firmware update, to fix some problems with the HDMI connection. Who knows, it might adress some other problems too.

From the futureshop.ca website :


Now to get my hands on this update, without having to return the player...

I returned my 511 and got the Samsung 850. After applying the angle hack to upconvert over component, the picture on the Samsung is quite a bit better. The picture is much more crisp and sharp (the 511 was extremely soft), and the picture quality in general is better. For example, I played Star Wars Episode 2 to test it out. There's a scene near the beginning where Yoda and Mace are talking to Palpatine in his office. On the 511, not only was it way too soft, but on closeups of Yoda's face, there was no detail, and even some pixelatization and blocking. On the Samsung 850, the picture is not soft, there is no pixelization, and no blocking.

I think the 850 is a keeper. My only concern is that I got a floor model because Best Buy was out of stock. I may return it and buy a new one online. I'm also considering auditioning the Panasonic S77 side by side. Even though the doesn't upconvert over component, I've heard that it produces a phenomenal picture at 480p.

But.........koach will the 850 play Xvid or DVD+R DL?, Fry's has a awesome deal on the 755 for under $70!!
Also let me know how the zoom feature is on the 850, it seems to be equal to LG's, has a letterbox filling zoom without any cropping? as the LG had?

i don't believe it will play DivX, but that wasnt something i needed. if i really wanted to watch divx, I'd use my modded xbox.

i didn't realize either of them had a zoom feature. what would be the purpose of that?

this is exactly what I was seeing...

The Canadian lgservice site has the LDA-531 firmware update dated 1/4/2006, that takes the firmware up to v1.437 ... it is also a fix for HDMI issues.

Have a look on videohelp search dvd hacks for hdcp and look at the one on the LG+DV-9800H

dvdhacks.php ? select = LG + DV - 9800H

worked for me!!!

Ok, So guys dont get any idea's about installing 531 firmware in your 511's while the 531 uses Faroudja, while the 511 uses there own chipset.
Pretty much means they screwed the U.S.!!

Location for the new LDA-531 firmware :

http://ca.lgservice.com/index_b2c.jsp

Click on bulletin board at the top to access.

I ca't get mine to upgrade, so if anyone is using Nero 6 and figures it out, please post (I figure I am somehow using the wrong CD format).

Worked fine for me last night, although I used Easy CD Creator. However, I do recall that you must ensure that the disk is being burned in ISO9660 format (and not in Joliet format) and ensure that you are finalizing the disc when burning (not just finalizing the session).

If you cant get it to work, try burning in Windows XP using XP's built in burning capability .. apparently that will work perfectly for this sort of thing.

----------------------------
You mean compoment can be upscale 1080i ..???
Thank...

make sure that the first folder is "LG_DVD" without quotes. Some extracting programs extract it so the first folder is "FIRMWARE". then burn it as a data disc, and it should be fine. the target should be: LG_DVD\\FIRMWARE\\UPDATE\\LG\\whatever the firmware file is (i forget). Also, when its updating the firmware (step 5) it will seem like nothings happening; the firmware update process takes a minute or 2, so just leave it and it will reboot.

i just got my player today, made on Nov. 2005, and there didnt appear to be any syncing issues. i updated the firmware for peace of mind, and i dont have any problems still. ive only tested a few minutes of each DVD. is there any specific movie that there are syncing problems with the LDA-531/DVB418?

Does anyone know the remote code to bypass the copyright protection on dvd's? I bought the LG LDA-511 yesterday because the guy at BEST BUY told me that this was the only one that would upconvert through the component cables, what he didn't tell me is that it won't upconvert copy protected DVD's through component, which sucks since almost every DVD I own won't work and my TV doesn't support HDMI ( 4 yr. old CRT rear projection). I have been reading on this thread about these "hack codes" and tried one that I found through an online search, but unfortunately it's not working. It told me to press; pause, 1,2,3,6,9 and I should see a screen that says "OK H" or "DEFAULT H". I did this and saw the "OK H" screen first , I then put in The Incredibles DVD, which is copy protected, and I still couldn't get the player to upconvert to 1080i. I repeated the whole proccess and saw the "DEFAULT H" screen and tried the same movie with the same result. Am I doing something wrong, or is there something I have to do to engage the code? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I tried the fix and on the Video/HDMI Info page it showed HDCP being off. This is on a 511. I also turned off macrovision, it shows off also. Started Revenge of the Sith, paused movie. Showed 1080i for the output. switched to 480i YUCK 480p better 720p blacked out my toshiba 57h81 doesn't support that so I know it was changed to that resolution. 1080i Looks really good. This is over component input all my set has. Also takes whatever divx or avi file I have thrown at it so far, also a Pal disk about the hubble telescope. Also looked at a sd picture disk from my camera. I think it is a keeper. To get to the video/HDMI info screen hit pause,2,4,8,6,5. pause,pause to exit. will only work when not playing a disk. If the upconvert reverted would it still show 1080i on the player?
wildfrog

The image I posted (playing.jpg) was snapped while playing (not paused) in 1/16 mode. As previously stated, I could see almost no difference following the outlined procedure. I didn't go in reverse 1/16 but will try it. What's weird is that I'm noticing people's foreheads seem soft unless I'm playing a disc with exceptional PQ (maybe I'm over analyzing now). I'll try the Yoda test as well over the weekend if I can fit it in.

After 2 bad 511's i bought a 418 new, off e-bay, at first hdmi out would not work, i tried the 531 firmware above and it works!
There is a left shift when using component above 720p.
It loads slower than my 511, ive tried a few homeburned dvd's that the 511 had serious audio stutter problem with, played fine.
I did notice a few video freezes but not as bad as the 511.
I cant use bitstream out on dolby digital, it's the same as a toshiba 4980 has a loud screech sound thru my plasma speakers using hdmi
So that means i have to listen to pcm sound on my receiver...bummer dts is set to bitstream works fine
511 didnt suffer this same fate, but using hdmi the 511 had a 1/2 top shift on 720p/1080i
Reason i like these LG's is there excellent letterbox zoom feature and ability to play xvid, i just returned last week a Oppo which didnt turn me on either.

Heres a list of hacks from videohelp, if they work i dont know, the info page does we know that........
I'm at work so i cant test right now.

HDCP off/on:
PAUSE,1,2,3,6,9
on screen: "OK H" or "Default H" (Status)
(2xPAUSE to leave)

Macrovision off/on:
Pause,7,4,1,5,3,6,9
on screen: "OK M" oder "Default M" (Status)
(2xPAUSE to leave)

EDID off/on: (Extended Display Identification Data)
Pause,1,4,7,8,9
on screen: "OK E" oder "Default E" (Status)
(2xPAUSE to leave)

Region Code:
Pause,3,1,4,1,5,9
0=all

Video/HDMI Info Page:
Pause,2,4,8,6,5

Factory reset + SYSTEM INFORMATION page
go to Setup/video/TV Aspect/16:9
and press 1,3,9,7,1,3,9,ENTER

Just returned my 511 to Best buy- Bought a cheap refurbished Samsung 841 off ebay and it is much better than the 511 i had. I have a DVI to HDMI cable I use and the picture is much more defined in 1080i and 720P

There was an issue with HDMI not behaving properly. This has been corrected with firmware 4.137 available from the LG canadian support site. Note that not all FS locations pulled it, I went to 2 and found it at a 3rd. I have not had any issues (before or after updating it), and I can confirm that the region-free, HDCP Off, Macrovision Off, EDID On remote codes do actually work. I am very very satisfied with this player, I use it everyday on commercial DVDs, and play divx and xvid encoded movies as well. All this plus Faroudja progressive scan for such a low price is an excellent value, IMHO.

I jst bought a DVB418, HDMi would not work....at all, first a tried the latest 418 firmware thats been around for almost a yr, no luck, then i tried the newest 531, been working fine since.

Also all the hacks work fine too, and no more skips like 2 511's i had.

531 is identical to the 418 except a higher video dac.

My only complaint is the hdmi audio compared to the 511 if set to dolby digital bitstream my panasonic plasma speakers make a loud screeching sound, have to set to pcm, which in turn turns off surround thru opitcal out to my reciever.

I am using component out to resolve this, same as a Toshiba 4980 i owned.

i thought the LDA-531 is exactly the same as the DVB418? it really has a higher DAC?

anyway, i can get all of those codes to work, except the region code hack with my LDA-531. i havent had any problems with syncing before, or after i updated to the latest LDA-531 firmware (1.437) and im also very happy with this player.

i have a question about EDID. i know what it is (extended display identification data) and that it allows the display to tell the player its settings (like what resolutions are supported etc). by default, my player is set to "OK E" which is off; would it be a good idea to enable it?

you are a brave soul to try 531 firmware on a 418. Glad that it worked for. What video DAC does the 418 have?

i think it has a 10-bit/27mhz vs the LDA-531's 12-bit/54mhz video DAC.

Rahzel,

Thanks for your help with firmware upgrade, it worked

I finally burned it using the XP burning utility, I just could not get it to work with NERO.

When you do the upconvert over component hack, is it permanent? Or does it work until you shut-off/change dvds?

Theres software for the region hack to work, i can verify it works............

Region hack here

Also i'd be more afraid to load 531 firmware in a 511 than the 418!, 531 and 418 use the same faroudja chupset, 511 uses LG's.....

Got the 511 from Best Buy this afternoon. I've owned a 318 for some two years.

The remote hack worked like a charm. I've spent about 45 minutes switching back and forth between both players (318 and 511) playing the introduction and first chapter of Gladiator at 1080i over component. My tv is a CRT RPTV.

(Good to see that LG/Zenith are very consistent at producing very crappy remotes !!! The remote for the 511 is no better than the one for the 318, which isn't saying much)

Some quick observations...

Where the 511 improves upon the 318:
- Colors! The colors were more saturated. The red capes from the centurians on horse looked a deeper burgundy than on the 318. I thought the skin on faces looked a bit better too.
- Text. Noticeably better on the 511. The text at the start of the movie looks much smoother and without any outer edges as it does on the 318. Sub-titles look smoother as well. For me this a big plus as I often turn them on (English is not my native language).

Where the 511 does not improve upon the 318:
- Fine detail. The overall smoothness that helps so much with text seems to come at the price of a very slight loss of detail. If you take a look at the very first close up of Maximus, right after his hands touch the wheat, you can see the lines on his forehead blur and shimmer a little while this does not happen on the 318.

I'll do some research on the 531. The 318 was a back up to a HTPC that has been decomissioned as such since my other pc just died. I want the colors and smooth picture of the 511 and the fine detail of the 318. I'm not asking for much...

Wasn't aware of the similarities between the 531 and 418. The 418 seems a safer, and cheaper, bet then. Thanks.

I got the LG 511 yesterday at BB great picture for the money. I had the panasonic s97 but had MB with my toshiba 57hdx82 crt set.